1977 Dime Story - Counterfeit or Altered?
JMS1223
Posts: 1,105 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am not going to use names or specific places in my story for privacy reasons. I am new to these forums but been a collector of coins off and on for over 25 years.
In 2018, my supervisor at my place of work came across a suspicious looking dime. It was very shiny. I took a look at it and it looked odd to me too. It was very shiny and it was bent. The edge had rim damage where the bend met the edge. The edge of the coin was all white as opposed to the usual copper nickel sandwhich for a 1977 Roosevelt dime. I tested the coin with a magnet and it stuck. I tested other dimes received that same day and none of them stuck (except a Canadian dime which was expected) and none appeared as shiny as this particular dime. I suspected it was counterfeit but then after doing some searching around online I found that sometimes people chrome plate dimes and other coins to make them look very shiny or change their color altogether. As a result of the process the coins became slightly magnetic.
I spoke with my supervisor when I saw him again and told him I now believed the coin was altered rather than a counterfeit and explained my reasoning. As a result he said he would let me trade him a regular dime for it. However due to the dime being in another room he was unable to get it for me at that moment, and my shift was finished so I went home.
The next day I had my coin club meeting and brought up the dime. Many people were surprised to hear about it. One of the collectors brought up the idea that if it was chromed it would weigh less than a regular dime and only slightly stick to the magnet rather than fully stick (which was what it did). I knew it stuck just as much to the magnet as Canadian dime as I had tested a Canadian dime to the same magnet. I did not weigh it but I remembered it felt a little lighter than the other dimes to which I was comparing.
However, another collector was convicted it was likely a counterfeit due to a recent influx of Chinese counterfeit dimes and quarters that had come into the area. He mentioned he came across a roll of quarters that all had white on the edges and were dated in the 1980s. They looked exactly like regular quarters otherwise. Later that evening I gave him my email address and he contacted me that weekend asking if I was alright with having it looked at by someone who worked for the government. I said that was alright. An hour later I get an email from the government official asking me to send the coin to them so they can investigate it. Unfortunately I did not have the coin in my possession so I couldn’t do that but I did mention that I might be able to get it from my supervisor on Monday.
I told my supervisor about the government official and how they were interested in investigating the potentially counterfeit dime. My supervisor told me it was okay for me to send it to them after planning to give me the coin when I came in on Monday but to please not mention his name or our business name. I agreed to this. On Monday, my supervisor comes to me halfway through my shift and tells me the coin accidentally got thrown away and he apologized that I would not be able to send it in. Later that day I emailed the government official telling them the coin was unfortunately thrown away so I wouldn’t be able to send it in. As a result, they were unable to conclude if the coin was altered or counterfeit. It remains a mystery to this day.
Comments
Interesting story, thanks for sharing.
My guess is your supervisor had a change of heart and decided he didn't need the feds poking around.
There apparently were/have been groups of Chinese counterfeits of circulating coins dumped into circulation at some point, and I'll assume that dime was one of them.
I don't think they would get very far if magnetic since vending machines and retail-facing coin counting machines have magnets to weed out magnetic coins (especially foreign).
If you found a pile of them or saw an influx of fakes, by all means call the Secret Service to let them know. But for one random fake I'd just keep it as a souvenir, or toss it, but not bother bringing the government into your life/business.
I agree. It was a mistake to agree to let the government official contact me. I regret that I did that especially because it was only one coin and no others had been found (like you said, the magnets would had caught them).
I agree that my supervisor probably had a change of heart and that is why the coin was thrown away. It would had made a nice souvenir indeed.
@JMS1223 .... Welcome aboard.... I agree, your supervisor likely had a change of heart and tossed the coin... did not want the government poking around. Cheers, RickO
Thanks.
Fortunately I was able to take a few pictures of the coin when I first saw it.
That does look like a chrome plated dime to me.
Does chrome plating magnetize it?
plating magnetize it?
Chromium is paramagnetic and can cause a weak magnetic attraction. It may not be chrome plated but it does look like it.
It looks like it to me too but when I put it to the magnet it stuck pretty well, just as well as it did to a Canadian dime.
Maybe it was plated with something else? I guess it’ll be a mystery for now unless another shows up.
At first I thought it was an impaired proof. Now I think it is plated (mercury?) yet authentic.
too bad it was thrown away - now the mystery will never be solved.
I agree it looks authentic but plated.
You mean mercury the metal or a mercury dime? There is no question this was a Roosevelt dime. If it’s plated, then whatever it was plated with has to be magnetic. I think only nickel (even though our coins are 75% nickel and 25% copper they don’t stick to magnets but 100% nickel ones do or ones plated with nickel probably would too) and iron/steel are magnetic metals. Correct me if there are other magnetic metals.
Mercury (the element) has been used at times in science class to plate things. It’s been used outside the class, too. Usually it was done before people understood how toxic mercury can be. At least that is my understanding.
I thought I had heard somewhere (might be wrong) that for some metals they need to be nickel plated before they can be plated with chrome. If that were the case there would be two layers that were magnetic.
Otherwise, the coin is a good copy if fake.